Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The setting aside of self-interest for the sake of others or for a belief or principle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Self-denial; self-renunciation; self-sacrifice.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
denial orinvalidation of one's ownneeds ,interests , etc. in the sake of another's; the setting aside ofself-interest
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word self-abnegation.
Examples
-
In advocating nonviolence, King asked African Americans to “present our very bodies” as living sacrifices to attain citizenship and respectability, and offered himself as a model of self-abnegation.
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
-
In subsequent speeches, as well as in an advice column he began writing for Ebony in 1957 and in a book he published the following year, King endorsed Christian self-abnegation as a means to attain “first-class citizenship.”
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
-
When I was a child, my home, usually humming with debate, argument and laughter, would be transformed by this time into a solemn sanctuary marked by prayerful memory and theatrical displays of self-abnegation.
Cheryl Pearl Sucher: Life Is Prayer During The Days Of Awe Cheryl Pearl Sucher 2011
-
And so he recedes, through phases of Bob Dylan – esque self-abnegation, while his band pushes forward with its bliss-filled racket.
-
When I was a child, my home, usually humming with debate, argument and laughter, would be transformed by this time into a solemn sanctuary marked by prayerful memory and theatrical displays of self-abnegation.
Cheryl Pearl Sucher: Life Is Prayer During The Days Of Awe Cheryl Pearl Sucher 2011
-
He begins by noting what should be obvious: Given the centrality of freedom of expression "to an academic community, a university's suing a student for libel constitutes a curious act of self-abnegation, rather like the United Way taking a position against charitable giving, or the National Cattlemen's Beef Association urging that all Americans embrace a vegan diet."
Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D.: When Academic Administrators Lose Their Moral Compass Ph.D. Michael Zimmerman 2011
-
Shulamith Firestone deems motherhood “a condition of terminal psychological and social decay, total self-abnegation and physical deterioration.”
-
The pro-Western Gulf or North African allied states have nothing to gain in seeing American influence or military power devalued in their region—either by others, or as is the current fad in Washington, through American self-abnegation.
-
However – does gentleness inevitably entail self-abnegation?
-
He begins by noting what should be obvious: Given the centrality of freedom of expression "to an academic community, a university's suing a student for libel constitutes a curious act of self-abnegation, rather like the United Way taking a position against charitable giving, or the National Cattlemen's Beef Association urging that all Americans embrace a vegan diet."
Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D.: When Academic Administrators Lose Their Moral Compass Ph.D. Michael Zimmerman 2011
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.